


A Different New Year's Eve

by evetessmacher



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex Danvers & Mon-El Friendship, Alien Bar (Supergirl TV 2015), Baby sitting, F/M, KaraMel, New Year's Eve, Original Character(s), Relationship Discussions, SuperValor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 00:20:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17611862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evetessmacher/pseuds/evetessmacher
Summary: An (accidental) babysitting situation forces Mon-El and Kara to talk about things they've avoided before :the truth comes to the surface.





	A Different New Year's Eve

It was the closest place to his home, that bar; he had spent many nights there, some happy, some less, but it was filled with memories, that’s for sure. 

About 8 years after Mon-El last worked here as a mixologist, he asked the owner, Tyler, if he could start working there again from January, but there was a condition: Mon-El had to babysit his daughter for New Year’s Eve. Tyler was a single dad and he needed a night off, at least for that special occasion, he sort of proposed that half-jokingly, expecting Mon-El to just run away at the mention of giving up a night of partying for a 3-years-old kid, but he didn’t.

“Sure. What’s her name?"

“Sure?”

“I don’t think her name is ‘Sure’.” Mon-El chuckled.

“No, I mean.. You’re okay with this?”

“Of course. It’s not like I have a family here or a party to attend.” He admitted a little sadly, _“not anymore, at least.”_ he thought.  
  
Winn left with the Legion while he selfishly decided to stay, he was still walking on eggshells around Kara, so he spent most of his time training alone or here at the bar, sometimes with J’onn; Mon-El knew he had to do something about his situation with Kara, because all that pretending was just unhealthy for the both of them. He never mentioned how he broke things off with Imra, she didn’t mention anything about Argo City, so they just pretended nothing ever happened between them.

“Her name’s Elizabeth."

“Does she have superpowers of any sort?”

“No, not yet, you’re lucky.” 

Tyler patted his shoulder and laughed, then he wrote down the time, his address and number on a post-it. “Here. I’ll see you in a few days then?”

“Yep!”

“Thank you again, thank you so much.”

“No problem.”

When he walked out of the bar he realised he _did_ have a problem: Mon-El had absolutely no idea of how to take care of a baby. Uh oh.

Mon-El stepped into the DEO, now wearing his red super suit, “Hey, J’onn!” His voice unusually cheerful.

“Good evening, Mon-El. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.. about that..uh.” J’onn turned around and raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m trying to settle down here again, so I asked Tyler from the bar if I could work there again. Uhm, he said yes but there’s a condition: I have to babysit his baby daughter on New Year’s Eve. I have no idea of what a babysitter does.. but since you are Papa Bear, perhaps you could help me?”  Mon-El’s voice went a little higher, scratching his chin nervously.

“Luckily for me, I became everyone’s Papa Bear when all the little bears were not so little, so, I’m not sure I could help with a toddler. You should ask Kara or Alex.”

  
Mon-El nodded, the older Danvers sister it is.

 

* * *

 

It was almost 9 pm, he hoped he wasn’t interrupting anything: Alex opened the door, wearing sweatpants and with her mouth full of food, her eyes went wide, “Mon-El! Hey! What are you doing here?”

“I’m so sorry to interrupt your dinner, I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Come in.”

“No, no, it’s something really silly.. Long story short, I have to babysit a little girl on New Year’s eve and I wondered.. if you could help?”

“I love kids obviously, but you should’ve asked me sooner. I literally just told a girl I’m seeing right now that I would join her at her party. I’m so sorry!”

“No worries, I should’ve expected it. I’m just gonna leave you alone, so you can continue eating that pizza.” 

Mon-El tucked his hands in his pockets, ready to leave until Alex continued, “You should ask Kara for help. She spent the summer before college babysitting two kids. And right now, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have any plans.”

His face sort of dropped, realising that he had no more options.

“Mon-El?” Alex immediately picked up his change of expression. “Do you want to talk about it? And I’m not accepting ‘no’ as a response.”

Mon-El sighed and walked into Alex’ apartment, his head low like a sad puppy dog, she patted the seat next to her.

“We have a lot to catch up on, don’t we?”

“Mh-mh.”

“I’m listening.”

Mon-El and Alex had never been really close, but they both cared and loved Kara like no one else: plus, Alex secretly admired him a lot for how much he had changed in that short time on Earth, before the Daxamite's invaded the planet, and even more when he returned with the Legion.

Same thing could be said about Alex for Mon-El: he was completely fascinated by this woman who wasn’t scared of anything, besides losing her sister. She was someone he deeply respected, ever since she called him out on his coward behaviour, anyone would be lucky to have Alex Danvers on their side.

“Where do I begin?”

“The future.”

After talking about recruiting different Legion members, it was time to drop the first big bomb on Alex, the truth behind his marriage.

“You know Imra is from Titan?”

“Yep. How did you two start dating? I imagine it wasn’t easy for you to move on from my sister.” She poured him a glass of wine.

“It wasn’t, I mean.. it isn’t.”

“Oh. I’m just shut up now, you look like you have too many things to say.”

“As I was saying, Imra comes from one of the most important families on Titan and.. that planet is extremely dangerous as an enemy: we had to form an alliance between Earth and Titan, so the easiest way was-”

“Wa- HOLY SHIT.”

“Yeah.” Mon-El couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction, he felt less tense now.

“So you never started dating? You never proposed? You never planned the wedding?”

“Nope.”

“Holy… shit. Does anyone here know about this?”

“Only J’onn.”

“YOU DIDN’T TELL KARA?”

“No, no! I mean.. it’s too complicated.”

“What?”

“It’s not like I didn’t love Imra.. I did. Eventually, we became a real couple as you saw. If I started telling people, especially my ex girlfriend, that our marriage was based on a contract, I would be disrespecting her.”

“But she isn’t Kara, right?”

“Yeah..”

“Are you still in love with her?”

“I think I never stopped.”

“And does Imra know?”

“She noticed it even before I did. That’s why we broke up, she let me go. She knew that our relationship wasn’t right.”

“And I’m assuming no one knows about this either.”

“You’re the first one, yes.”

“Did.. something happen with Kara? You seemed closer than ever when you left for Argo City, then you only interacted on the battlefield, to defeat Reign.”

Mon-El closed his lips tight, before letting out what sounded like a long sigh. “Almost.. It was strange. We both confessed each other that we still wanted to be together, until we got attacked.. We never talked about it again.”

“I can’t believe she hasn’t told me that.”

He suddenly realised that he was talking to Kara’s closest confidante, he just had to ask one thing. “Can I ask you something? About Kara?”

“Sure.”

“I hope it doesn’t break any sisterhood secrets’ code.. when I came back, how was she? Did I hurt her too much?”

“She wasn’t okay at all, she had just given up on you, on love... but at the same time, she looked okay, because you were okay, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“For seven months, she thought you were dead. Kara blamed herself for it, she blamed herself for anything bad that might’ve happened to you. But seeing you again, even seven years older and with a wife.. it calmed her.”

“There were some nights when I would’ve preferred dying in that pod than being alive in the 31 st century. Sometimes, everything was.. unbearable, I had no hope, no light in my life. I held onto Kara’s necklace like something sacred.. that was my only hope. I had to be the light in the darkness, instead of letting the darkness get into me.”

Alex instinctively hugged Mon-El for the very first time, he had never opened up about those seven years, and it was clear to see that they took their toll on him.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

Suddenly, Alex’s phone started ringing: it was Kara.

“Hello?”

“Hey Alex, I just finished eating. Do you mind coming over to watch a movie? You can bring wine.”

“Actually.. I’m really tired, I’m going to bed right now. Maybe next week, okay?”

“Oh, okay. Goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight.”

“Okay, now _you_ go to her.” She pointed at Mon-El.

And when Alex Danvers tells you to do something, you do it, immediately.

 

* * *

 

When she heard knocking on the door, Kara paused the movie and thought that Alex changed her mind last minute, until she found him standing in front of her.

“Hi.”

“Hi, Mon-El. Is everything okay at the DEO?”

“Yes, yes, I just needed to ask you something.”

Kara gulped before continuing, “Sure, what do you need?”

“I will totally understand if you say no, but I accepted to babysit this little girl on New Year’s eve and I don’t know anything about children and babysitting- Alex told me you spent an entire summer babysitting two children – so I was just wondering if you.. could help me?”

One part of Kara was relieved, the other a little nervous: if she said no, she would’ve been a bitch to Mon-El, if she said yes, she would’ve accepted to spend the last night of the year with a baby and the man she loves.. loved? Loves? _Her ex boyfriend._

“Well.. I don’t think you’d be terrible without me, but okay, I’m gonna help you.”

“Really?” Mon-El’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, “That’s great! I-I’m gonna tell you the details tomorrow. I’ll see you at the DEO, goodnight!"

“Goodnight, Mon-El. See you tomorrow.”

Kara went back to her movie with a stupid grin on her face, that night was gonna be.. interesting, to say the least.

“Uhm Alex, sorry to call you again, but do you still have one of those books about parenting?”

“Wait, what happened?” Alex pretended to not know anything about it and enjoyed listening to Kara’s freak out very much.

 

* * *

 

Two days later, it was the infamous night: Mon-El and Kara went to Tyler’s place around 7 pm. “Hi Tyler, this is my friend Kara, she’s gonna help me tonight, do you mind?”

“No, of course not! The more, the merrier. Nice to meet you, Kara. A few heads up before I go, I’m coming back tomorrow morning around 11 am, all her favourite toys are in the basket next to her bed, don’t let her separate from her teddy bear ever, there’s already some bottles in the fridge, all you need to do is warm them up and check the temperature on your hand, there’s also some mashed.. something in the cabinet, in case she doesn’t want milk. She still wears a diaper, so be careful. Put her to bed around 10, 11 max: one last thing, she’s really scared of loud noises like fireworks, so make sure she’s asleep before midnight, all clear?”

Kara and Mon-Elfelt a little dizzy with all the sudden information but nodded anyway. “You’re going to do great, don’t worry. I’m gonna pick her up now.”

Tyler came back into the living room holding Elizabeth in his arms, “Say hi, Ellie. These are my friends, Mon-El and Kara, they’ll take care of you tonight, okay?”

Being an alien and ageing more slowly than humans, Elizabeth didn’t look any older than 2, “Hi.” She whispered lightly, melting all the hearts around her.

“Well, I’m gonna go now. Thank you so much, again. I hope you have fun!”

“Goodbye!”

“Bye!”   


 

  
“Okay, so what do we do now?”

“I don’t know, let’s ask her?”

“Elizabeth, what do you want to do?”

“Play, together!”

“Okay, so she likes us. I think. That’s good.” Mon-El whispered making Kara laugh.

They followed her little steps to her room and sat down on the floor, bringing out the toys from the big blue basket.

Ellie had a dinosaur, Mon-El had a robot and Kara a Barbie, “Do they have a name?” Mon-El asked.

“The dinosaur is Rawr, Barbie and..”

“We can choose the robot’s name together!” Kara replied, “What doyou think?”

“Yes! It’s a girl robot!”

“Okay, girl names..mhh..”

“Betty, the robot-ty?”

“Mon-El, no, ew, that’s terrible.”

Ellie found that hilarious for some reason, “Nooooo!” 

“Okay, okay, another name.. Beep?”

“What do you think, Ellie?”

“Yes! Beep-Beep!”

“What do Beep-Beep, Barbie and Rawr do?”

“They fight bad monsters!”

“Ooh, that seems like something more in our area.” Kara smirked looking at Mon-El.

“Who plays the monster?”

“You.”

“ME?” Kara faked (or maybe not?) shock.

“Mh-mh, I have Barbie and Rawr. He has Beep-Beep. You’re the monster.”

“Wow, okay. I hope I’m good playing the bad guy.”

“You’re gonna be great, I’m sure.” Mon-El laughed at the situation, Kara stuck her tongue out at him.

 

When they all declared the monster’s time of death, it was time to eat something.

“I’m gonna cook something for us, you take the bottle from the fridge and warm it up.”

Kara nodded, “And, before you even think about it.. don’t use heat vision.”

“Ugh, what a killjoy.”

“Uhm, sorry if I don’t want any laser beams around the baby!”

“Okay, fine! You’re right.”

“That sounds great, can you repeat it again?”

Kara almost smacked Mon-El in the face opening the fridge, “Hey!”

“Sorry, not sorry.” She warmed up the bottle for a few minutes and checked it wasn’t too hot on her hand; in the mean time, Mon-El opened various cabinets and drawers to see what he could cook for himself and Kara.

She sat down next to Elizabeth, who was watching a cartoon on the couch, and fed her; for a moment, Mon-El looked back at the two girls, an inexplicable feeling taking over his stomach: he could totally get used to that view.

  
Elizabeth’s eyes looked drowsy, she rubbed them and Kara understood that it was time to sleep.

“Go check the stove, it’s almost ready. I’m gonna take her to bed.”

Mon-El picked up the little girl in his arms, not entirely awake, but not asleep either; he tucked her in under the blankets, until Ellie asked “Can you read me a story?”

“Of course, where are the books?”

“Here.” She pointed at the drawer in her night stand- he saw Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and other classic fairytales, Mon-El picked up the first one and started reading, getting lost into the story, until he noticed the baby was asleep. He smiled at the sweet girl, sleeping so peacefully, and turned off the lights.

“Dinner’s ready, it might be a little cold now, but if you want I can do my usual trick. Is Ellie asleep?”

“Yeah, she asked me to read her a story and halfway through it, she passed out.”

They sat down at the table and started eating, “What did you read?”

“Beauty and the Beast.”

“Ooh, I love that one!”

“I think we’ve watched it once, didn’t we?”

“Yeah.”

The silence became more uncomfortable around them, “She likes you a lot.” Kara eased the tension.

“Does she? I’m glad she doesn’t hate me.”

“Of course. Why would she hate you?”

“I don’t know, because I never know how to act around children. I guess.. I didn’t have little brothers or cousins.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

“You don’t know how to act around children? What about Val? He wouldn’t let you go, if it wasn’t for his mom.”

“No, that’s different.. I saved his life.”

“I don’t think there’s any difference between Elizabeth or Val. I believe you’re a natural.”

“Well, so are you. It’s impossible not to love you.”

“Thank you..” She moved a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

 

“So, how’s it like to be back at the DEO?”

“Nothing changed, really. Except I don’t have Winn around.”

“Yeah, I miss him, too.”

“But I do believe that he’s gonna do great things in the 31 st century, he’s probably doing better than ever.” 

They chatted washing the dishes.

“I just hope he never loses his cheer, his joyful spirit.”

“Why would he?”

“Look what happened to you...”

“It’s different, he’s gonna be okay.”

“Why is it any different?”

“He won’t have to live what I lived.”

“And what is that?” Kara lowered the plate she was holding, her worry visible in her eyes.

“Nothing you should worry about, trust me.”

“Mon-El, if there’s someone here who knows how it feels to lose everything, multiple times, it’s me.”

“Leading the Legion has been exhausting.. Nothing made me feel truly happy there. Winn won’t have that weight on him.”

“Nothing?”

“Only.. memories. Those were my only relief.”

“What about your friends, the other Legionnaires? What about Imra? Didn’t they make you happy?”

“It was just a lie, Kara. Everything was built on lies.”

“What do you mea-“

Small footsteps interrupted their conversation. “I peed... and..” Elizabeth had woken up.

“I’m gonna change her diaper, you check if the bed is dirty.”  
  
Kara didn’t miss changing diapers at all, it was disgusting as she remembered.

Mon-El entered the nursery with a hand on his eyes “Uh, the bed is clean, are you done?”

“Yeah, I am, you can open your eyes, Mon-El.” 

Kara chuckled lightly. “Let’s go to sleep, Ellie.”

 

“I feel so tired I probably won’t sleep.” Mon-El rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah, me too. It’s not even midnight and I could go to sleep right now.”

After Mon-El sighed, Kara remembered they were in the middle of a very important conversation earlier.

“What did you mean with ‘ _It was just a lie._ ’?

“I thought people cared about me more than they actually did. They just saw me as a colleague and nothing more.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. You are the most wonderful man I know and you deserve all the happiness and love in the world.”

Mon-El’s eyes lit up like never before, tears touching his lashes, he never realised how badly he needed to hear that.

He hugged Kara tight and whispered, “I couldn’t find either in the future, but I hope the new year will bring them to me.”

Kara half smiled at him, but still sensed that there was more behind those words, something was still unsaid.

“Is that all you need to say?” Her eyes looked for something in his gaze, a sense of relief, but there was none.

“I need to talk to you, about what happened on Argo.. and everything that came after.”

She had avoided thinking about everything that happened on Argo, especially after she heard that Clark and Lois were gonna visit there soon, she couldn’t help but see the similarity of their journeys: reconnecting with their culture and sharing that experience with someone really special. 

But now Kara was ready to talk about it, no matter what was gonna happen next.

“Before we got attacked.”

“You told me the truth about your feelings, and I was going to do the same.”

“You were?”

“Yes, but I saw that something was stopping you.. I saw that in your eyes. Please, tell me the whole truth, Mon-El.”  


He inhaled a deep breath, “The day you defeated Reign, when the Legion came back to help you, Imra and I had a talk; when I was on Argo, I wasn’t with her anymore, but I still felt the weight of our marriage on me, this responsibility.”

Kara swallowed, not sure on what the outcome of that conversation would’ve turned out to be.

“But when we talked, she told me that it was okay because we were never meant to be together: she saw a different me here, happier and healthier and she knew that you were always going to be the love of my life. Our relationship started as an alliance to unite her planet and Earth, I didn’t want to tell you, or anyone, because I didn’t want to diminish the importance of our matrimony, but that’s what it was: a contract, a lie. We eventually got together as a couple, but after Imra arrived here and she saw you..” he paused and took Kara’s hands in his. “us.. She knew that staying with her wasn’t the right thing, for either of us.”

Kara’s cheeks were now more red, “That’s.. a lot to take in. All this time, I forced myself to move on and convince myself that you were in love with her, that you were happy and I had to be happy, too.” 

She caressed his beard softly, their eyes trying to hide the thousands of feelings that passed through them, “But now I see you and all the weight you’ve been carrying for all these years, the sacrifices you’ve made.. I’m so sorry.”

She hugged him again, he stroked her hair and whispered, “Why are you sorry? This isn’t your fault.”

“I’ve put you through this.. in the moment I sent you away, everything that happened afterwards is my fault.” Kara’s voice cracked.

“Kara, no, look at me. Look at me. It’s okay. I’m okay because of you, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mon-El dried her tears with his thumb, Kara missed his soft touch on her cheeks.

“Thank you.. It’s just that.. that day haunts me. I still have so many questions, what if there was another way?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Kara. What matters now is that I’m here, I’m okay, you’re okay and I’m with you.” 

His hands held hers again and kissed them: she could feel herself healing from all the fears and the trauma that came with the Daxamite invasion, she smiled with her eyes and he mirrored her expression, she knew he was feeling the same way.  
  
“I have an idea.”

“What?”

“What if we go visit Argo City again.”

Mon-El laughed a little, finding this a little impulsive.

“I really would like to visit soon, maybe not now, but in a few months.. I can catch up with my mom and oh! I can introduce you to Lois!”

“They’re staying that long?”

“Apparently.”

“Wow, uh.. okay!” He would go on any planet, at any time with her.

“Why are you s- Oh, shoot.”

“What?”

“It’s almost midnight!”

“Should we turn on the TV to do the countdown?” They stood up.

“Elizabeth is asleep, we can do our own countdown.”

Kara quickly glanced down at her watch and started counting after a few seconds: “Ten.”

“Nine.”

“Eight.” She put her arms around Mon-El’s neck

“Seven, six..” The sparkle in their eyes was brighter than ever, the anticipation building up.

“Five, four, three, two..” They leaned in for a sweet kiss on the first second of midnight: smiles were growing on their lips, finally together after a painful wait. 

“Happy new year, Kara.”

“Happy new year, Mon-El.”  
  
They didn’t even have the time to go for a second round, because the fireworks started going off outside and Ellie woke up with the loud booms: Kara immediately ran to Ellie, followed by Mon-El, “Shh, Ellie, don’t worry, they’ll be over soon.”

She took the crying toddler in her arms and hoped she would calm down soon, Mon-El caressed her back trying to comfort her. Ellie rested her head on Kara’s chest, still crying even if not as loud as before, she covered her tiny ear with her hand.

The three of them sat down on the couch, Ellie still in Kara’s arms, and Mon-El right next to them: the fireworks stopped but Ellie still didn’t want to leave her. “See, she likes you!” Mon-El mouthed, making Kara smile widely.

Without realising it, the three very tired aliens fell asleep cuddled up on the couch: in the middle of the night, Mon-El woke up and used his super strength to carry Kara and Ellie to bed, careful to not shake them awake, he smiled taking an imaginary photograph of the two girls, feeling peaceful, and got back to rest next to them.

The next morning, Tyler got home at the established time, but found only Mon-El awake: “Good morning, Ty: I made coffee, the girls are still asleep, do you want some?”

“Thank you, Mon-El, but I’ve already had a cup. Rough night?”

“Not at all, we made a great team. I think Ellie likes us both. How was your party?”

“Pretty good! But I miss my little princess, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna check on her right now.”

“Of course.” Mon-El took another sip from his mug: he would’ve never imagined to be lucky enough to go back to the 21 st century and, more importantly, to start a new year in Kara’s arms. Mon-El felt like a new person, yet like his old self, lighter, he saw everything in a new light: as he was lost in thought, Kara entered the room, “Good morning.”

“Good morning, coffee?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He poured her some in another mug, “Looks like you were really tired, uh?”

“The good kind of tired, though. Did you take us back to bed?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Oops, sorry.”

“No problem, luckily I didn’t wake you up. You looked so peaceful.”

For a few seconds, they got lost in each other’s eyes, “It was quite the New Year’s Eve.”

“I’m not complaining, though.” Mon-El smirked.

“Oh, me neither, although.. I have one note.” Kara put her arms around him again.

“Okay?”

“I would like to wake up next to you.”

Their lips met again to wish each other a good morning, Kara giggled, “I really like your beard.”

“Really? I was starting to think about shaving it, actually.”

“Don’t. You. Dare.”

“Yes, ma’am .” 

Tyler got back in the room, “Good morning again, Kara. Thank you for taking care of Ellie, especially with the fireworks thing.”

“Oh, you’re welcome.”

“I think you just became her favourite person.”

“I told her! But she won’t listen to me!” Mon-El interjected, earning a light slap from Kara on his shoulder.

In that moment, Elizabeth entered the room shouting Kara’s name, rushing to hug her legs; she picked her up, “Good morning to you, too! Did you sleep well?"

“Mh-mh. Thank you!” She kissed her cheek.

Mon-El whispered jokingly to Tyler, “I’m feeling a little left out right now, ouch.”

Kara gave Ellie back to her father, but the little one turned to Mon-El, “Thank you, too!” she hugged him as strongly as she could with those tiny arms, making Mon-El feel fuzzy and warm, as Kara watched them adoringly.

It definitely was a different way to begin the year, but sometimes different is good, it’s a brand new, better chapter in the book, after so many hard ones you had to get through.

 

** End. **

**Author's Note:**

> [An older work that was originally posted on Tumblr]
> 
> Twitter : @evetessmacher
> 
> Tumblr : Iminyourhandskara  
> ______  
> this will be my last work for a while, but by the end of the month you'll get new karamel, schottmacher and psiturn content! 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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